The easing of price growth comes as home sales are also slowing. In March, the pace of existing U.S. home sales fell to its lowest in more than 1 1/2 years. Many homebuyers, especially first-time homebuyers, are shopping in tough markets with low inventory and more stringent mortgage requirements.

For the first quarter of the year, the median home price in the New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner metro area was $157,600, a .7-percent increase from the $156,500 median price in the first quarter of 2013.

By comparison, from 2011 through 2013, the median price in New Orleans climbed by 7.6 percent.

The median price marks the point where half of homes sold for less and half sold for more on the market. Of 170 metro areas, 125 cities saw price gains, the group said.

"The cooling rate of price growth is needed to preserve favorable housing affordability conditions in the future, but we still need more new-home construction to fully alleviate the inventory shortages in much of the country," National Association of Realtors chief economist Lawrence Yun said in a news release. "Limited inventory is creating unsustainable and unhealthy price growth in some large markets, notably on the West Coast."

Nationwide, the median single-family home price was $191,600 in the first quarter, an 8.6-percent increase from $176,400 in the same period last year.

Home prices for the last three months of 2013 were up by 10.1 percent, Realtors said.

In Baton Rouge, the median price in the first quarter was $164,700, up 2.7 percent from last year.

Real estate and economic development experts gathered at the University of New Orleans last week to talk about the state of the local real estate market. Read our coverage here and here.